The Nutcracker (1993 film)
The Nutcracker is a 1993 animated fantasy and comedy chritsmas film, directed and produced by Ron Clements and John Musker and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film it is based in the story of "The Nutcracker and The Mouse King" by E.T.A Hoffmann and the ballet adaptation by Tchaikovsky. The film features the voice talents of Mariah Carey as Clara, Matthew Broderick as Max (The Nutcracker), Jim Cummings as The evil Rat king, Robert Guillaume as Uncle Drosselmeyer and Tress Mac Neille as The Rat Queen. Summary The film features a girl whose gift, is a nutcracker, brought by the eccentric Uncle Elias Christian Drosselmeyer, who at night, comes alive along with other toys and fight against the evil Rat king and his army. The girl discovers that The Nutcracker, is the Drosselmeyer's nephew, who his uncle tells him that he was bewitched by the Rat Queen and tells him that the spell would be broken if he kills the Rat King and wins the hand of a maiden. Plot In 1856, the Stahlbaum family celebrated Christmas Eve at home. Clara and Fritz wait for the eccentric Tio Drosselmeyer to arrive with his presents. Meanwhile, Clara is very jealous that her sister, Louise has a boyfriend, to her surprise, Drosselmeyer gives her a Nutcracker, who the girl thanks. Battle in Clara's House At midnight, Clara goes down to the dance room to see the nutcracker, but in the middle of the room, a ghost of Drosselmeyer hangs on the Clock and launches a magic trick that makes the toys come alive, while a group of Rats, together to their leader "the Rat King" they plan to destroy the nutcracker to conquer The Dolls Land, starting a battle. The battle ends with Clara throwing one of his shoes at the Rat King to save the Nutcracker to avoid being burned, causing the rodent to burn its tail and flee, the girl slips and hits the crystal clock, being stunned. The next morning, Clara was recovered from her blow. Clara tells her what happened in the battle between the toys and the Rats to her parents, but they do not believe them. Drosselmeyer who had already returned with the Nutcracker arranged, Clara tells him that at night he was on the clock like a ghost, Drosselmeyer tried to cheer her by telling him the story of the Nutcracker. The Nutcracker Story Once upon a Time, in a far oway land, a King and a Queen (of unknown names), lived in a powerful castle along with their daughter Princess Perlipats. One day, all the subjects of the castle are in a hurry, because it was the birthday of the King, in the hall the throne, there were many guests, while, the queen was very busy making a pork chop for the King, but the aroma of the meat, attracted all the Rats of the kingdom, including the Rat Queen and her son, who devoured all the steak. The king became very angry and asked his inventor, Drosselmeyer, to tie up all the rats with traps. Drosselmeyer with his nephew, managed to catch all the Rats, except the Rat Queen and his only son. As revenge, the Rat Queen bewitches Princess Perlipats, making her very ugly. Drosselmeyer had the opportunity to solve the problem and he got it. In the castle, Drosselmeyer explained in his own words how he can cure Princess Perlipats, telling him that the Krakatooth nut is the only way to break the spell, the King agreed to what Drosselmeyer said and decided to order all the princes and nobles who ran, with the promise to marry Pirlipat once she has healed. However, the Krakatooth is so hard that all the men's teeth break when trying to break it. Drosselmeyer is about to be beheaded for not being able to cure Pirlipat when Max intervenes. He manages to open the nut between his teeth and gives it to Pirlipat, breaking the spell. Then the angry Rat Queen conjures up Max, making him the Prince of the Dolls (in other words, a Nutcracker). During the uproar, she is killed by a falling statue, Drosselmeyer is banished for passing a Nutcracker as a Son-in-law, while the King and Queen celebrate, The Prince Rat, seeing that his mother is dead, takes the crown of his mother and promise to take revenge on the Nutcracker without anyone stopping him. After finishing the story, Drosselmeyer tells Clara that if the Nutcracker manages to kill the Rat King, he will win the heart of a maiden and make the spell break. The Final Battle At night, The Rat King returns very angry with Clara, for what he did last night (although this returns his shoe), when the rat goes in search of the Nutcracker, Clara tricks him, locking him in a box full of candy and the girl flees to save her Nutcracker, but the rodent demands that he return the Nutcracker if he does not want to see his mutilated cat. The Nutcracker, already awake, tells Clara that she needs a sword to fight the Rat King, this leads to a fierce battle between the wooden dummy and the real rodent. The Rat King is defeated, being stabbed by the Nutcracker in the belly, walking from the tree until his death. Rats without a leader, flee, while other toys celebrate. The Nutcracker after winning the battle, invites Clara, along with the other toys in the Land of the Dolls, causing Clara to reduce her small size, thanks to the magic of Drosselmeyer. While all the toys and Clara arrive at the Castle, The Rat King wakes up (it is because he was pretending to be dead) terrifyingly opens his eyes and pursues the group of toys to the Castle of Toys without his crown. In the Dolls Land Clara, Nutcracker and the other toys come to the world of dolls with flying swans to reach the palace of toys. In the palace of toys, The Nutcracker receives a royal welcome as the Prince of the Dolls amidst many toys that they animate Clara shares a romantic dance with the Nutcracker, who takes her by the hand and gets on her knees. Then he asks her to stay with him and be his princess. Clara excited is ready to embrace the fantasies of her childhood and her beloved companion, but is in conflict because of her desire not to leave her family whom she loves and therefore can not give a true answer. Drosselmeyer's warning about time is true when the dolls begin to become inanimate toys and the Rat King arrives with a psychotic fury and chases Clara and the Nutcracker to kill them as a last revenge. Clara and Max escape getting into a tunnel in the palace, while the rodent chases them on all fours, The Nutcracker tries to protect Clara with his sword, but the Rat rakes his sword, laying it on the ground and wounding the Nutcracker, while chasing Clara, Clara tries to keep the rodent in line, but the corrode on a balcony. When the rat proceeds to kill Clara with her sharp claws, they succumb to her wounds and fallin in a lake where he drowns to death,Francis sees the rodent's lifeless body and the feline, begins to devour his body (Off Screen). Clara gets up and discovers that the castle is completely empty. She starts crying for the Nutcracker when the fog fills the lonely palace. Back to Home After Clara wakes up, she gets up and goes to Drosselmeyer's shop, only to tell her that her Nutcracker had disappeared and asked her if her nephew was real. Meanwhile, a young man carrying a large clock, Drosselmeier presents the boy as his nephew Max, whom Clara recognizes as his beloved Nutcracker in his human form. The film ends with the scene in which Clara and Max meet and share a romantic kiss of love. Cast * Mariah Carey as Clara * Matthew Brodrerick as Max/The Nutcracker * Jim Cummings as Ferdinad, The Rat King * Robert Guillaume as Uncle Drosselmeyer * Tress MacNeille as The Rat Queen * Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Fritz * James Earl Jones as Dr. Stahlbaum (Clara's father) * Moira Kelly as Clara's sister * Rise Stevens as Mrs. Ingrid Stahlbaum (Clara's mother) * Mickey Rooney as Rat Soldier * Dallas McKennon as Maurice the old soldier * Tara Strong as Marie * Frank Welker as The King/Francis the cat (only meows) *'Liza Minelli' as Princess Perlipats *'Peggy Lee' as The Queen *'Nathan Lane' as The Rats Release The film was obviously released on December 21, 1993, as a Christmas special. Soundtrack The Nutcracker (1993)/Soundtrack Home Video The release of their home video in VHS format was on April 12, 1997 as part of the "Walt Disney Classics" collection. On November 9, 2003, it was released as part of a collection of masterpieces to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. In 2007, it was released again as a DVD of Special Edition, including Extra Materials and a Theatrical trailer. Walt Disney's The Nutcracker (1993) VHS Poster.jpg|The Nutcracker (1993) VHS 1997 The Nutcracker (1993) special edition.jpg|The Nutcracker (1993) Special Edition DVD 2007 Reception Gallery Trivia * It was the first Disney animated film to be released in 1993, since years later, in the same year, the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" by Tim Burton was released. * Unlike the original story, the name of the Mouse King is changed to The Rat King. Category:1993 films Category:Animated films Category:Animated comedy films Category:Animated fantasy films Category:American fantasy films Category:Films Category:Christmas Movies Category:Christmas Special Movies Category:UK VHS and DVD releases Category:USA VHS and DVD releases Category:Direct to DVD and Blu-Ray Movies Category:American animated films Category:Walt Disney Pictures films Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios films Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios Category:Films based on books Category:Films about rats Category:Films about toys